Some Indy Bands Allow Podcasters Free Use

From The Wall Street Journal: "Music copyrights are a worry for fans of a new audio medium called podcasting. An online repository for aspiring musicians, GarageBand.com, hopes to turn the problem into an opportunity.

"The San Francisco company is a popular source for people who add music to podcasts, a radio-program style audio file that can be automatically delivered to personal computers and portable music players. That is because artists who store music on GarageBand typically allow songs to be distributed without restrictions, hoping to build a following. Podcasters who use other material, including songs from major record labels, risk lawsuits without negotiating licenses and royalty payments. "

"Creating and subscribing to podcasts typically requires special software. It can be confusing for beginners. So GarageBand is converting its big catalog of music files into a format needed for podcasts, and making it easy for users to subscribe..."

"The new initiative, called GarageBand Podcast Studio, lets music fans subscribe to receive new songs automatically from artists without having to look for them... Users who post playlists of recommended songs on the site also can turn those into podcasts, adding commentary to the music... "

"... The company may insert advertising into podcasts or begin charging for some of the new features, which are now free..."